29th State to Ratify | New Jersey | Donna Bassin, Artist
Her Flag Artist, Donna Bassin
Since the election of our current president, I have been inviting people into my studio to join me in the creation of collaborative portraits.
They respond to the state of the union through gesture, gaze, costumes, props and lighting that reference a collective visual history of democracy and resistance. In doing so, they transform their personal space and bodies into a cadre of model witnesses against persecution.
My stripe consists of a series of these photographic portraits referencing the flag and the agency of citizenship. These images are as diverse as each sitter who takes ownership of their representation — confrontational, dramatic, heroic, mournful and defiant.
The portraits are lined up side by side in solidarity for the length of the stripe and representing the social and political inclusiveness of New Jersey. I wish to bring the "Here I Am-ness" of these witnesses from New Jersey across the country. The stripe ends with gratitude to four notable suffragists from New Jersey, Antoinette Brown Blackwell, Lillian Feickert, Alice Paul, and Florence Spearing Randolph. ***
***Antoinette Brown Blackwell was the founder of New Jersey Woman's Suffrage Association in 1867.
Lillian Feickert was the president of New Jersey Woman's Suffrage Association from 1912-1920 and subsequently helped to organize the New Jersey League of Women Voters.
Alice Paul was the founder of National Woman's Party, the radical wing of the suffragist movement.
Florence Spearing Randolph was the founder and president of the New Jersey Federation of Colored Women's Clubs who served on the executive board of the New Jersey Woman Suffrage Association.